Shadow of Charlotte
by Aragami04
Summary: Great things were expected from Tabitha during the summoning ritual. However, on the contrary of what everyone thought, she didn't summon a dragon, or any powerful magical beast. What she called forth was a shadow, one that would abide by his contract to swallow up anything that threatened to harm his summoner.


The Springtime Summoning Ritual was an important day, iconic even, for the second year students of Tristain Magic Academy. Everyone could practically feel the anticipation in the air as the preparation was being made. The teachers didn't help either. They went around and kept reminding every second year student of their first familiar's importance. As a result, on the day of the ritual itself, everyone was understandably nervous, even the ones who appeared to be calm and collected, or acting like it was no big deal.

Even the quiet and illusive Tabitha wasn't an exception. A magic prodigy, top grade of her entire school, and being granted he title of Chevalier at a young age, it was as if nothing could go wrong for her today. From the perspective of the outsiders, there was little doubt that her familiar was going to be amazing.

Although Tabitha herself wasn't so sure. While she knew that her familiar was going to be strong, in the end, it all came down to just _how _strong it was going to be. The orders she was getting from her home country was getting harder and more dangerous as of late. While she was able to take care of herself, probably, if her familiar wasn't going to be strong enough…

Tabitha would hate it if something were to happen to her first familiar, and that thought had been keeping her up all night. Not that anyone noticed, even when she was standing in line, waiting for her turn to step into the summoning circle.

"Rough night?" Came a voice from her left, when Tabitha turned to look at the speaker, she was almost engulfed in the biggest pair of breasts she had ever seen around.

She merely took a step back and nodded while looking up at the girl in front of her. Tall, flaming red hair, tanned skin, skimpy clothes, it was Kirche without a doubt. Tabitha and Kirche had become friends during their first year. She could swear that at first, the other girl was just a big annoyance, who followed her around merely out of curiosity, but their dynamic changed as time went by, and before Tabitha knew it, she had been stuck with the red head.

"Don't worry. You're going to be more than alright," Kirche grinned and started rubbing Tabitha's head, only for her hand to be knocked away by the latter's wooden staff. However, that didn't faze her a bit as she continued while throwing a side glance toward a girl with pink hair, who was fidgeting like crazy not far away from them. "You can't be as bad as Zero over there. That's for sure."

"Not funny," Tabitha said in her usual emotionless tone, only loud enough for Kirche to hear.

"Hmm? It is, for me anyway," Kirche shrugged, but didn't have any more comment as they watched their classmates performing the summoning ritual in the middle of a large magic circle drawn directly on the ground of the academy's courtyard. There, Montmorency had just finished her part and was walking away with a frog. The girl seemed oddly pleased with her familiar, which caused more than a couple of raised eyebrows. It was a _frog, _after all. Her boyfriend Guiche, who came after her, managed to summon a giant mole with cute googly eyes, which suited him for some odd reasons.

"Miss Tabitha, it's your turn. Please come forward," the voice of the supervising teacher, professor Colbert, pulled Tabitha out of her train of thought. Taking just a second to steel herself, she then stepped forward, painfully aware of the eyes of everyone on her. They were expecting great things from her. That made her a little uncomfortable.

Shaking the unpleasant feeling away as she reached the magic circle, Tabitha took a deep breath, raised her staff and started chanting, softly enough so that no one could hear her true name during the chant.

"_I, __Charlotte Hélène d'Orléans…"_

It appeared that her caution was unnecessary, as the moment the words left her mouth, the magic circle beneath her feets started to light up, and wind gathered around her. Its intensity increased with each word of the summoning chant, until there was a small tornado in front of Tabitha, kicking up dirt and grass as it spun around in place.

"_...in the name of the great Five Pentagon Powers…"_

_Nothing to worry about, everything was under control, _she thought while watching the spell unfold. Everything was going smoothly, and now all that was left was to wait for her familiar's appearance.

"_...accept my summoning, and come to me, my familiar."_

As Tabitha finished her chant, the tornado once again grew bigger, but no one seemed to pay it any mind, even when the sky above started to darken. However, that caused a small grimace to show up on Tabitha's usual stoic face. That wasn't supposed to happen.

It took awhile for the other to catch on though, as the wind started getting violent, cutting down trees and uprooting large patches of grass at once. Then came the screaming as everyone tried to get away from the summoning circle, while professor Colbert was doing his best to get to Tabitha, who was in the middle of it all, unable to move as she tried to get back the control of her spell. However, he wasn't quick enough. A bolt of lightning came down from the sky, struck the circle dead center, and released a wave of magical energy, knocking everyone off their feet.

Tabitha, who was standing closest to the explosion, was flung away like a rag doll from its sheer force. She landed on the ground with a loud 'Thud', feeling like all of her willpower was drained out of her body, before losing consciousness.

* * *

Nagisa Shiota was one of the people who could proudly say that he had seen many bizarre things during the eighteen years that he had existed. Still, for one such as himself, to be knocked unconscious mid flight, then woke up in an unfamiliar place, was something that didn't happen that often.

His head was hurting, his throat parched, and he was still feeling a little unoriented. However, Nagisa could still remember that he was supposed to be following the trail of a newly recovered Shiro, a target that he was all too eager to hunt down. He couldn't accept that contract any quicker when Lovro brought it to him.

But it went nowhere. The trail that he was supposed to follow to England went cold before he could do anything. Disappointed with himself, Nagisa boarded the private jet that Lovro prepared to get back as soon as possible.

However, it was a set up. The plane was attacked mid air, or at least that was what Nagisa assumed. There was some light shaking which gradually got stronger, before a flash of light and a big explosion tore through the plane's cover and threw him against the wall then out of the plane. In the midst of panic and confusion, Nagisa reached out and grabbed the nearest thing that he could in an desperate attempt to hang on to something, anything. Unfortunately, the thing that touched his hand was his own suitcase, whose length almost matched his height, which contained most of his trade tools, but nothing to help him survive a fall from hundreds meters on the air.

Then he heard a voice…

"_I, __Charlotte Hélène d'Orléans…"_

"What…?" Nagisa looked around in confusion, but quickly decided that he was just hearing things. In fact, he shouldn't be hearing anything aside from the wind rushing past his ears right at this moment.

"_...in the name of the great Five Pentagon Powers…"_

The ground was getting closer and closer, and as much as Nagisa tried to find a way to dampen his fall, there was nothing that he could do. He was about to resign himself to his fate, then _it _appeared.

A glowing oval shape right beneath him.

"_...accept my summoning, and come to me, my familiar..." _The strange voice came again. It was strange, like an echo from somewhere faraway.

"What is that…?" He wondered and reached out, he got nothing to lose after all. However, the damned thing was just outside of his reach, barely so. He tried to stretch his body, positioning himself so that he could fall faster, even if it was to his own death, but he just couldn't touch the shape. It moved with him, and get away from him as he tried to get closer.

_Accept my summoning…? _Then Nagisa thought of what he heard before. He had been dismissive of it up until now, but it sounded like the voice was asking him to accept something. Could it have something to do with the strange thing he was seeing?

A peek to the side showed Nagisa that he only had a few seconds left before turning into a red paste on the ground. There was just no time for hesitation. He had to decide, now.

Opening his mouth and felt the air rushing in, it was difficult to get the word out, but Nagisa knew that he had to. Gathering his leftover strength, he shouted.

"I ACCEPT!"

Then, as abrupt as it came, the glowing oval surface halted in mid air, and Nagisa fell into it, into an abyss of blackness as far as the eye could see, and passed out.

Then, here he was, in an unfamiliar room, feeling like crap. Nagisa tried to focus on his hearing, but aside from someone's very steady breathing, which suggested that he or she was in a deep slumber, there was only the muted sound of heavy rains splashing against the glass windows. He then tried to move his arms and legs, as subtly as possible, and felt around a little. A great weight was lifted off his chest when he found no restrain on his person.

He cracked his eyes open a little bit. The first thing he saw was a wooden ceiling, dimly lit by a flickering light that most likely came from some candles. When Nagisa turned his head to the right and got a mild headache by doing so, he saw his suitcase rested against the wall right next to his bed.

That eliminated most chance of him being captured, and Nagisa felt that he could risk it a little more. He fully opened his eyes and sat up in order to get a good look at the room he was in. It looked like an infirmary with white beds separated by privacy sheets, and medicine cabinets on the far wall. What set off the alarm inside his head though, was the atmosphere of the place. It felt old, not in an abandoned, crumbling way, but from the architecture to the furniture, everything just screamed 'medieval'. The clothes he was wearing, however, looked oddly similar to the modern white gown that the patients usually wear in hospitals. His shirt, pants, boots and the lab coat that he was wearing while on the plane were nowhere to be seen. The same could be said for his cellphone, the pistol concealed in the coat, as well as the knife hidden in his boots.

"Where the heck am I?" Nagisa felt around his body and surprised that he didn't feel any pain. There wasn't any other wound either. "Weird… I'm sure that the explosion did quite a number on me back there…"

He slipped out of his bed and kneel down next to his suitcase. After a short inspection, he realized that someone had tried to open the case, but gave up after realizing that it was locked, because the numbers on the code lock had changed since the last time he saw them. Other than that, there was no sign of tampering or forced entry.

Standing up, Nagisa then tiptoed to the privacy sheet that separated his bed from the other, sleeping patient and lifted it. The sight behind made him pause and blink a couple of times. There, lying on the bed, was a girl with short blue hair and petite build. At first glance, she looked like a female version of his younger self, or at least his twin sister. Heck, with a little bit of work, she could even pass as Nagisa himself, appearance wise.

Nagisa continued to stare at her for several seconds before tearing his gaze away. It was a bit of nice surprise, but in the end, didn't matter all that much in the scheme of things. The important thing right now was to figure out where the heck this place was.

Due to the rain, Nagisa almost missed the footsteps approaching from the other side of the door. At least two persons were coming his way. Taking a moment to think of what to do, he then pulled the sheet back to cover the girl's area, before silently returned to his bed, lied down, calmed his breathing and pretended to still be out of it. Whoever treated him might not be hostile, but maybe he could learn a thing or two if they talked, thinking that there was no one else listening in.

Just as Nagisa settled down, the door led to the room opened, and two silhouettes walked inside, one man and one woman. They came closer and Nagisa heard the sound of them pulling away the sheet covering the girl's area.

"She's still sleeping," said the woman, and Nagisa had to keep his face as neutral as possible, since he was certain that she just spoke French. That made things easier for him. French was one of the languages that Irina had drilled into his head ever since the day he agreed to join the ranks of Lovro's assassins.

"Will she be alright?" Asked the man. His voice was warm and filled with concern. "I've never seen a summoning ritual went that badly. Even Miss Valliere's performance was… less disastrous."

_Summoning ritual? What the heck? _Nagisa wondered. The strange voice that he heard before passing out also asked him to accept her summoning. Did he fall into the hand of some magic worshiping cult by any chance?

"Miss Tabitha will be fine. She was just drained of Willpower, and will wake up on her own without harm. Now…"

Beads of cold sweat formed on Nagisa's forehead as the two strangers appeared at the end of his bed and pulled the sheet away. There was a moment of silence as they stared at him, before the man spoke up.

"It looks like he was still out of it. Are you sure that…"

"I am sure, professor," the woman cut him off. "And you, young man, I know you're awake. Please open your eyes so that we can talk?"

_Crap… _Thought Nagisa as he slowly opened his eyes and found himself looking at a bald, middle aged man wearing a robe, a wooden staff in his hand. Next to him was a younger woman dressed like a nurse.

"Oh… This is awkward," Nagisa forced out a chuckle as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. "Hi…?"

"Good evening," the bald man nodded and gave him a friendly smile. "I'm glad that you're awake. Do you still feel any pain or experiencing any discomfort?"

"I'm having a killer headache, and some water would be…" Nagisa's words trailed off as he saw the nurse taking out a stick from her pocket and waved it around. Water then shot out from the tip of said stick and filled up the empty cup on the nightstand next to his bed. A moment later, a vial containing some kind of blue liquid floated out from the medicine cabinet into her hand.

"Here, drink this for your headache. And there is your water," the nurse handed the vial to Nagisa. He took it from her before inspecting it with his hands, as his eyes were still busy gluing to the stick that she just used.

"Eh… Thanks?" He replied dumbly while trying to figure out what else to say. Naturally, nothing came up.

"Is everything okay?" The man frowned as he leaned closer. That seemed enough to snap Nagisa out of his daze.

"What? Yes… Yes. Everything's perfect," he said quickly and put the vial down next to the glass. There was no way he was going to drink something that suspicious. "Just… a little bit surprised is all. I'll drink these later. We need to talk. That's why you're here, no?"

"Indeed. But if you're tired, we can…"

"No, it's fine," Nagisa held up his hand. "I'm good to talk now, if you don't mind."

"Of course not. If you're certain," the man nodded. "I will start then. My name is Jean Colbert, a professor of this fine academy, and this is Miss Diane, our nurse."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Nagisa Shiota," Nagisa said. "Though I'm not so sure why I'm here… Or even where 'here' is."

"Ah, that I can answer. This is Tristain's Magic Academy, and…" Colbert's smile faltered a little as he milled his words. "...to be honest I don't know how to explain it to you. Never had to do this before today, you see… hmm… Well, long story short, you have been summoned here."

"I've been… summoned? How?" Nagisa frowned. Nothing in that answer made a lick of sense to his brain. "And a school for magic? Is this Harry P...? No, wait… You…" He looked at the nurse. "...What you just did to create this water, was that magic?"

"Yes, it is," Diane looked a bit offended at the question and glared at him. "Professor, I think this boy is a commoner."

There was something in the way she spoke the word 'commoner' that grated on Nagisa's nerves, but Colbert just ignored her and continued.

"Was that your first time seeing magic?" He asked.

"Yes, maybe? I've seen some crazy things that are damn close to magic and miracles, but I'm pretty sure that all of them are results of our technology advancement. How does that work, anyway? Creating water out of thin air, or making things float like that?"

"It's magic," Colbert said after exchanging a glance with Diane. "We channeled our Willpower into a spell to command the elements to do our bidding."

"Still doesn't make sense, but okay," Nagisa decided that he would come back to that topic later. "Now, you said that I've been summoned here? Is that some kind of magic as well? And why me?"

"A ritual, to be exact," Colbert said. "It's a tradition of our school to let our second year students summon their first familiar. The ritual will search for the one that is most suited for the caster and bring them back here. Now, calm down…" He hastily added when he saw Nagisa's frown. "...it's been thousands of years since the last time a human appeared as a familiar, most of the time it's just animals."

"Doesn't change the fact that I'm here," Nagisa sighed. "Well, if what you've said is true, then being… summoned, might have saved my life, so it's not all bad. But what exactly does this familiar thing entail? Is there a contract or something?" His frown deepened. "It isn't something like… becoming a slave, is it?"

While Nagisa accepted the summon willingly, it wasn't like he had a choice at the moment. It was either his life, or coming here. That didn't mean that he would just lie down and become a slave.

"Brimir, nothing like that, no," Colbert looked horrified. "How to treat a familiar is up to the mage individual, but I've rarely seen someone who abuses theirs. After all, a familiar is someone who helps the mage in either their everyday life, or in combat, depending on the type. In exchange, the mage provide protection and take care of the familiar's needs. And yes, there is a contract."

"So it's like a mercenary? At least for the combat part," Nagisa commented. If it was a contracted work, then he was returning to familiar ground.

"Not exactly," Colbert shook his head. "The bond between the mage and their familiar is much deeper than that. Through magic, you will gain a better understanding of each other, and most of the time, both of you will stay under the same roof. Also, the familiar will be granted a special ability through the familiar rune. We can't tell what the effect is going to be until after the contract is formed though."

"Still sounds like a bodyguard with extra perks to me," Nagisa shrugged. "Not the type of work that I usually do, but I _did _accept the summon, and she saved my life, so…" He glanced at the covered bed of the girl with blue hair. "It was her who summoned me, right?"

"You can tell?" Colbert asked.

"Nah, just a guess. Let's say that I accept the contract, in that case, I still need to know where we are so that I can contact my friends back home."

"We're in Tristain," said Colbert. "Why don't you tell us where you came from? Maybe I can help you see how far it is from here. Though I don't think it's anywhere near here if you don't even know about magic. I've never heard of a place that isn't aware of its existence until tonight."

"And I've never heard of a place called Tristain," Nagisa answered, feeling like a big chunk of lead just dropped onto his stomach. "If it helps, I'm from Japan, but was actually being in England before getting pulled here."

"I've never heard of that second place, but…" Colbert's eyes widened slightly. "Japan? Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure, yes. So you know where it is?"

"No, I'm sorry," Colbert shake his head slowly. "But I've heard of it just earlier. To tell the truth, you aren't the only human who got summoned today. Another one was called forth by Miss Valliere not long after you."

"Another one?" Nagisa rolled his eyes. "Are you sure that it was a rare occurrence?"

"Absolutely, and it baffled all of us too. The other boy also said that he was from a place called Japan. He also has a strange name like yours, so…"

Colbert's explanation was interrupted by a rustling noise from the next bed. Just a moment later, the privacy sheet was pulled away, revealing the girl with blue hair that Nagisa saw earlier, who was still in her school uniform. She rubbed her eyes a few times, before looking around at the other occupants in the room.

"You're awake," she said, looking at Nagisa. Her voice was soft and small, and almost monotone, but it was definitely the voice that he heard as he was falling through the sky.

"I am, yes," Nagisa gave her a smile. "So, you're my … erm… summoner?" The word felt so awkward on his tongue. "The good professor here just filled me in, and it didn't make much sense, but well, nice to meet you. Nagisa Shiota."

"Tabitha," she nodded. Her face as expressionless as ever.

"Are you feeling alright, Miss Tabitha?" Diane asked. "Your Willpower was completely drained from the ritual. You should rest until morning just to be sure."

"I'm fine," Tabitha shook her head. She then stood up, looked down at her uniform before grabbing the coat hanging at the top of her bed, together with her own wooden staff, and started making her way past the two surprised adults and one intrigued Nagisa.

"Where are you going, Miss…?" Colbert asked, but his question was interrupted as Tabitha turned around just before opening the infirmary door.

"My room," she said as her gaze settled on Nagisa. "Come, please."

"Me?" Nagisa blinked, and received a nod from the girl. "Uhm… I'm cleared to go too, right?"

"Well, yes," Diane said. "I've healed you the best I can, just be sure to get some more rest, and take that potion, please."

"Nah, thank you, but I think my head cleared up," Nagisa lied through his teeth as he got out of bed and grabbed his suitcase. "Ah, professor Colbert?"

"Yes?"

"I remember wearing something different before coming here, and some of my stuff was in there as well. Can I please have them back if you've seen them?"

"Your clothes had just been washed. I hanged them in the changing room over there," Diane motioned toward another door behind her.

"As for your stuff, aside from the case you're holding…" Colbert smiled sheepishly. "They're in my office. Sorry, some of the contraptions are way too intriguing for a scholar like me. That musket was the single most complicated gun that I've seen, and the other thing with glowing glass surface…"

"You haven't looked in there, I hope?" Nagisa narrowed his eyes as he worked out what the professor was talking about. The phone was fingerprint locked, and was protected by Ritsu, but by any chance that Colbert could bypass it and gained the information about Lovro's organization inside…

"No, of course not, I haven't found the way to open it up yet. Even if I could, I wouldn't. It's yours after all," Colbert waved his hand in a frantic manner. "I only wanted to take a look at it. I've never seen something like that before."

"You've never seen a… You know what, never mind, just bring them back to me, please," Nagisa pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling his headache getting stronger. After getting confirmation from Colbert, he went into the changing room and changed back to his previous clothes, before tying his hair up into a ponytail. He then said goodnight to the two adults and followed Tabitha, who was waiting patiently without a word of complain.

* * *

Following Tabitha, Nagisa found himself going out of the infirmary, down a couple flights of stair, and out to a open walkway that connect the tower that he was in to another. On both sides of the walkway, he could see the academy's large courtyard. However, since it was night time, and the rain was falling heavily, he couldn't see anything five feet ahead of him.

"So… I haven't thanked you yet, for saving my life. So thank you," said Nagisa as he caught up with his companion of few words. "Professor Colbert also mentioned a contract? Do I have to sign something to make this official?"

To his surprise, Tabitha stopped dead on her track, before looking up at him and slowly shook her head.

"No contract. You can do whatever you want."

"What do you mean 'no contract'?" Asked Nagisa, clearly puzzled. He was sure that Colbert told him there was one, so the only other interpretation was that Tabitha didn't want to sign it with him. Normally Nagisa wouldn't have minded it so much, but in this special case, he was feeling indebted to the girl in front of him.

"I heard you talking. No magic, too dangerous," said Tabitha as she tapped her staff lightly against his chest and started walking away again.

"So you think I can't handle myself?" Nagisa raised an eyebrow. Now he was feeling a little stung. If anything, the skills that he had honed under various assassins' tutelage were his pride. When there was no reply from Tabitha, Nagisa reached out and grabbed her shoulder. He wanted a clear answer.

"Please wait…" He opened his mouth, but whatever he was going to say died in his throat as he felt a chill running up his arm. Nagisa jerked it back, just in time to avoid having his wrist sliced open by a blade made from ice that protruded from the ground.

"Hold on…" He jumped several steps backward and raised his hands. Unfortunately, Tabitha wasn't listening. Above her, three ice spears were forming. They were all aimed at him.

Being able to see magic performed right before his eyes was indeed intriguing, but Nagisa soon realized that it wasn't the time to admiring his unexpected opponent. He dashed to the side and into the open courtyard to avoid the first ice spear. However, he wasn't able to recover in time to get out of the way of the other two. The long suitcase he was holding wasn't just for show though. Just before Tabitha's attacks reached him, Nagisa swung said case in front of him and used it as a shield. It was made to withstand sniper shots, so a couple of ice sticks shouldn't be a problem.

Still, the force behind the attacks was strong enough to made Nagisa groan as he used his weight to keep the suitcase standing upright.

_Not good, _he thought. Direct combat when the enemies was on alert wasn't Nagisa's forte was one thing, being forced on constant defense was even worse.

_I have to turn the table somehow, _thought Nagisa as he fingers fiddled with the pass code lock on the side of the suitcase, all the while holding it against Tabitha's barrage.

* * *

Tabitha lowered her staff, ceasing the ice barrage on her commoner familiar's suitcase. Somehow he managed to open it from that position and was now no longer hiding behind the thing.

_Where is he? _She looked around. It looked like he was going on the attack. Originally, she just wanted to scare him into getting away from her, since what she had to deal with was too dangerous for any commoner, but now, things had gotten a lot more complicated. If he was going to fight back, there wouldn't be any guarantee that he would get out of this unscathed.

Suddenly, in the middle of the falling rains, Tabitha's ear picked up a rustle from the bush somewhere behind her back. Without thinking, she tapped her staff on the ground, conjured another ice spear and shot it toward the source of the sound.

Nothing came out of it, and it brought a slight frown to her face.

_That sound again, _this time from somewhere to her left. Tabitha sent out another attack, which also resulted in nothing. Then her fighting instinct and experience kicked in, she immediately spun around and put up a barrier...

'CRACK! CRACK!'

...Just in time to intercept two bullets coming from behind. For a second, Tabitha saw an arm holding a strange musket poking out from under the cover of darkness, but it soon retreated, and she lost sight of Nagisa once again.

_His shots made almost no sound, _thought Tabitha as she looked around, trying to find him, but to no avail. Granted, the noise from the rain had covered for Nagisa a lot, but it was the first time she ever seen a musket that quiet. Maybe she had underestimated her familiar a little too much.

Against an unseen opponent who was trying to get the drop on her, Tabitha decided that it was time to get her back against a wall. So, slowly, she backed away until she felt the cold wall behind her. However, that proved to be a mistake. Not even having enough time to catch her breath, Tabitha saw out of the corner of her eyes as she looked around, Nagisa had already been there, hanging onto the ceiling right above her position.

Her eyes widened as she launched herself forward to avoid being skewed by Nagisa's knife as he dropped down. He didn't fall back this time, but instead charged forward, knife raised, taking advantage of Tabitha's disadvantageous position. Not letting something as small as being on her knees hamper her combat ability, Tabitha swung her staff upward, blocking Nagisa's strike and at the same time, launching forward multiple wind blades.

Much to her dismay, Nagisa dodged them all by rolling to the side. At least the attack halted his charge and forced him to seek cover in the darkness again.

Tabitha couldn't see him, couldn't even feel his presence, but she just knew that he was ready to strike again. There were many spells that could be used to flush out someone in hiding, but the moment she stopped to use something that would require a longer chant, that would be the end of her. Nagisa had seen the advantage of her not knowing about his fighting style, and was using it to its fullest potential, not giving her the chance to attack.

_Again, there! _Another shield was raised almost immediately as Tabitha sensed something behind her back, and again, she managed to stop his bullets. The difference was that, it wasn't just one or two of them this time.

'_BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!'_

A stream of unending bullets was colliding against her shield, chipping it away bit by bit, but it wasn't like Tabitha couldn't repair it on the go. Her shield was strong, and her Willpower had recovered by a fair amount. She was sure that she could last until Nagisa ran out of bullet.

Unless…

Something was tickling against the back of her mind. It was obvious that Nagisa was forcing her to be on the defense, but he was in no rush to resort to this kind of brute force attack. So why did he choose to come at her head on like this? He had to know that he would run out of bullets sooner or later.

Then, the answer hit Tabitha like a brick. It was either Nagisa had an unlimited supply of bullets, or this was all…

_A distracti… _Without being able to finish her thought, Tabitha found her legs got swept away from under her. Just a second later, her back hit the floor with a loud 'Thump!', knocking the air out of her lungs. Her eyes teared up making her vision blurry, but she could feel her staff was being kicked away before Nagisa straddled her hips and pinned both her wrist to the ground next to her head.

"Cease fire, Ritsu," he was speaking to someone Tabitha couldn't see. "Target's down."

The shooting stopped.

When her vision finally cleared up, Tabitha found herself looking at Nagisa's gentle smile, while her ice shield crumbling away.

"Not too shabby, right?" He sounded like the whole thing just now was just a walk in the park. It was irritating, but Tabitha managed to keep her face neutral as it always was.

She really did underestimate him.

* * *

"Hmm…"

"What do you mean by 'Hmm'?" Nagisa asked. He was still on top of Tabitha, pinning her down. "Did I pass your little test or not?"

"Who is Ritsu?"

"She's… my assistance," Nagisa was a little surprised at the sudden question. It was only now, after the fighting was over, that he finally registered what kind of position that they were in. Tabitha's breathless voice didn't help either. "Professor Colbert is holding on my device to communicate with her, but I have a spare in my suitcase. So yeah, I called her and we put on a show for you. Good enough?"

Before Nagisa could get his answer though, the doors on both ends of the walkway burst open. From one of them appeared an almost panicking Colbert with nurse Diane hot on his heel, and the other a bunch of students in their sleepwear, led by a red head in one of the most skimpy underwear that Nagisa had ever seen on anyone beside Irina.

"What happened here?" Colbert asked after looking at the sight in front of him. "I heard sounds of gunshots, then saw miss Tabitha's ice flying everywhere. Did you two just… fight?"

He trailed off at the end, apparently not very sure of his words anymore after seeing the position that Nagisa and Tabitha were in.

"Just… a little test, that's all," said Nagisa as he immediately release Tabitha's wrists and sat straight up. "I was convincing Tabitha to…"

Everyone was never going to know what Nagisa was about to say, since it was cut short by Tabitha putting her hands on the sides of his face, before pulling him down and pressed her lips against his.

"Wha…" was all Nagisa managed to get out before resigning himself to the sudden public display of affection. It wasn't like Irina hadn't forced him to get used to these kinds of thing whenever she got her hands on him. However, something was different this time.

_It feels… rather nice? _He wondered. But as quickly as it came, the kiss ended. Tabitha pushed him away and crawled out from under his legs. She then straightened her clothes, picking up her staff before turning to look at Nagisa again and nodded.

"Good."

And walked away, ignoring the eyes of everyone else around them.

"Wait! What do you mean 'Good'?" Nagisa sprang up, torn between running after the girl and retrieving his stuff. Deciding to do the latter, he rushed past Colbert and picked up the Uzi attached to a robotic arm, which was controlled by Ritsu, before heading toward his suitcase.

"Later, Professor," he quickly told Colbert after seeing the man's gaze on the Uzi. "I have someone to catch up with. And don't forget my stuff, please."

Nagisa then rushed after Tabitha. The students on his way just parted, letting him past without any question. Nagisa could still feel their eyes on him though.

"Hey! You meant that our fight was good, right?" He shouted his question but received no answer from the retreating Tabitha.


End file.
